Meant to Live
by Away I will be
Summary: Something happened to Gantu a long time ago that caused him to be what he is today, and the memories are beginning to return to him. (Fic is based entirely around Gantu, for once.)
1. Chapters zero and one

DISCLAIMER - I do not own Lilo and Stitch, and anything in this chapter except the following -  
  
Juska  
  
Valec  
  
Avon  
  
Brian  
  
Venes  
  
Violet  
  
Those are my characters, do not steal them!  
  
-  
  
Prologue  
  
Trudging back towards his spacecraft, Gantu rubbed a sore spot on his arm from where that annoying abomination, experiment 626, had flipped him over on to a car. Whoever it belonged to was in one heck of a surprise, seeing how Gantu and his enormous size and weight had just about crushed it to nothing. Once again, the abomination and that little girl had been successful in capturing an experiment and not him. 'Hamsterveil' was getting more and more frustrating, along with demanding and threatening Gantu. The larger alien was obviously getting pushed around and could do nothing about it, and that brought back memories he really didn't want to think about.  
  
Climbing into his craft that was hidden amongst a small patch of woodland further back into the rural parts of Kauai, he turned on the powerful engines. As they hummed to life, that constant memory came to mind that he couldn't help every time he saw the space craft. To be more exact, it was a battle craft in just about perfect condition, only it was a revised type. Yes, it didn't rightfully belong to him, but who cared? It began to lift off of the ground as the hover device lifted it and dust swirled around.  
  
And to make things worse, the memories were now stronger than ever because of the time of the year. Even though months were called different names and they might have been a few days shorter on his home planet, they still happened all around at the same time. Right now on Earth it was March, so on his home planet it would be a month called 'Mabon.' It was by coincidence that it was the same day of the week, also, when the worst thing happened to him. It all basically started a year before everything happened on the day everything changed his life. He was fourteen back then and still had all of his friends.  
  
Once at an altitude that put him out of reach of sight, he began making his way towards his base. "It" was all because of the craft that ruined everything for him. Gantu tried to focus on just piloting the thing instead of hating it, but attempts were unsuccessful. Instead he unintentionally glared at the controls with hate as just about all events that had ruined everything that meant something to him began to return. All memories came back almost as an intense headache, starting at the year before that one fateful day everything happened, and when that news was told to him.  
  
1. Fourteen  
  
Gantu, only fourteen years old, walked through the halls of his junior high school attempting to get past the crowd of students to his group of friends. Even though he was about three feet taller than everyone else, it was harder since it was about one of the few multi-racial schools on the planet. Yes, the entire planet. And the school was huge, built just for the many students. It was a five floor school and had many people as the staff. Finally, Gantu lost his patience and began plowing his way through the crowd, attempting to reach the locker of one of his friends. Usually, they all would be there. After much time, he reached his destination.  
  
"I see you've discovered the theory that at least one person joins the school daily, huh?" One of his friends, Juska asked.  
  
Gantu only nodded, not too happy. Gantu wasn't too alike the other students at the MR Junior high school, seeing how tall he was. He had dark blue skin and what looked like horns on the side of his head the curved forward and light, almost aqua eyes with a white glint as a reflection of light. He was seven and a half feet tall, and like his race, naturally muscled. Even the clothes weren't too normal at the school. On the planet Earth, he could be considered a punk, even though that label was very stereotypical. He wore mostly black, had almost an obsession with spikes and baggy pants. He had no need to wear shoes, as his race had big feet that had almost rock-hard bottoms. Too a lot of people he could almost be scary because of his size, clothes and instead of having normal teeth they were more like fangs. At the time, he had a snaggle-fang that his friends almost always teased him about.  
  
His friends all had the same 'style' as him, baggy pants or something that could be considered crazy to other students. These group of friends would be called the freaks of their school. His friends included Juska, who was his closest friend, Brian, Valec and Avon.  
  
"So, I'm hungry," Valec grinned. "I need food!"  
  
"Well, that's what you get for trying to set the record of the most days without food," Gantu answered, and Valec shot him a dirty but playful look.  
  
"I don't see you doing anything daring," Valec smirked, and started walking away. The other four followed, not really thinking as if it was an automatic response to follow.  
  
Valec was the dare-devil, and almost always in need to do something stupid. He was from a race that was a dark-brown color and had a human-like face but pointed and large ears, and the classic all-one-color eyes, with his being silver. He, too, had large canine teeth and a scary look to him. His black, untamed looking hair made him look constantly angered, also. Lighter brown stripes on his jaws curved upwards to his silver eyes. Juska, on the other hand, was not only the opposite gender but more like the opposite race. She had a more animalistic and pointed forward face. Instead of where her ears would be, she had small horns that were the same color of her skin, a clean white. Her hair was more like thick tendrils with black tips on the end. She had the most human-like eyes out of her friends and was the closest friend to Gantu. The particular thing about her race was that they had four arms, another beneath the normal set. It made her look more like an insect than a normal-appearing race.  
  
Brian was the second-tallest and was more 'gothic,' yet another stereotypical label given to him because he wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything other than black. He could actually still appear to be gothic if he wore a foot-ball outfit because of his skin color. Actually, his skin was a gray color, but was covered in black fur. He had instead of two eyes, four, and a smaller one behind the larger ones. Each eye was a dark red, and on top of his head, (which his hair was black, also) there were cat- like ears. Brian was actually very nice despite his scary appearance. Lastly, there was Avon. She was part of a very common race at the school. Her race had pale yellow skin with and a human-like face. Brown, long hair hung in her eyes which had no irises but only a black pupil. A very distinct feature of her compared to the other was that she had a tail, only about four feet long, and she used to her benefits to annoy people, like tapping them on the shoulder and turning the other way. She was actually very annoying at times, but other than that she was pretty nice and there was nothing to complain about.  
  
And now, Valec burst the door to the MR junior high school open and his stomach growled, as if it was encouraging him to run for the nearest place to eat. "Hurry up!" He called back to the other four. "I'm starving!"  
  
The planet was really no different than Earth in nature wise, the temperature was measured the same way, the land looked the same, it had continents and oceans, but the one difference was the buildings and man- made structures were more technologically advanced. Gantu cracked his neck in boredom as they walked down the sidewalk. He merely watched as Avon was close to being hit by a craft zooming by. Brian suddenly turned around and began walking backwards to face the others as if seeing this triggered a thought. "Hey, did you know that the galactic militia is actually starting to draft people?"  
  
"Isn't that illegal now?" Gantu asked, this catching his attention.  
  
"Not anymore. It's being allowed on some planets," Brain informed them.  
  
"Are girls aloud to be drafted, too?" Juska hopefully asked. One of her goals was to become a soldier in the militia, or to be a part of the battle craft squadron.  
  
"Yep," Brian answered, "Girls too. It's only if one of your family members previously served in the militia, though. Anyway, this is one of the planets that had permission to have people drafted."  
  
"Wow. I didn't know that the war was getting that contagious," Avon said after walking back over and away from any oncoming crafts.  
  
There was a war at the time, after nearly half of planet had been killed by a disease purposely sent to it from another planet in the neighboring solar system. The antics were unknown, but they weren't going to be forgiven. In the war, there served mostly two categories. The militia and the battle craft squadron. Instead of like on their planet at this time craft meant to travel with, but there was also another design to travel months without refueling and to travel in space and destroy the enemy with their destructive weapons built. And it was constantly growing ever since the disease conflict had started over a year ago. Each solar system had a very good militia and squadron, and it was as if one battle one would lose, and then next the other would win. This had been going on repeatedly.  
  
"Aren't you only able to be drafted if you're in high school, though?" Gantu asked as they turned a corner and unto another street.  
  
"Yeah," Valec replied from the front, "But there's only another month left of school and then we're going there. And the war isn't going to be over for a long time, buddy."  
  
Finally, heaven shown through the eyes of Valec and he dashed across the street to a random fast food joint and headed in, not even waiting for them to catch up. "Are you going to wait to be drafted or are you going to join the militia yourself?" Avon asked to Juska as they also walked across the street.  
  
"I don't know," she answered and the others walked inside.  
  
Valec was already ordering who-knows-what and they simply went to a booth and sat down, not really hungry. Soon Valec came dancing over with what looked like some kind of burger only with some alien-food on it. He sat down next to Brian and began to take in truckloads of whatever he ordered.  
  
"Did anyone ever figure out what planet that one song came from already?" Avon asked to no one in particular.  
  
"I doubt we ever will," Gantu answered and lazily looked out the window at people walking around. "Our planet is always catching a bunch of unwanted crap on the radios."  
  
They carried on a conversation about how far away a planet could be and how that was possible and that soon led to something about killer rubber ducks attacking unsuspecting victims at high noon in golf carts, somehow. This particular group found humor in the weirdest ways. Gantu still continued to watch the groups of people walking by, and his eyes fell on a particular family. It was three people all of the same race, and it was a mother, father, and son. The son was probably only five or six years old, and he rode on his father's shoulders. Gantu slowly blinked as the mother soon returned, and she somehow managed to hold three ice cream cones and handed two of them to the father and son. The father said something and they all laughed. The dark blue alien exhaled. Their life was basically heaven to him, and he would give anything to have that. Sometimes his friends told him it wasn't healthy to have this much stress for his age.  
  
"Wow. Your fish-boy friend sure has space out, huh?"  
  
Hearing this comment seemingly out of nowhere, Gantu turned around. A girl stood by the table, and she was probably the most preppy thing you'd ever lay eyes on. She wore a cheerleading uniform and with her was some tall guy that looked like he was on drugs or something and said nothing. "You say something, Violet?"  
  
Violet was just about the most popular girl in school, and there was basically no guy aside from them that didn't want to hook up with her. Her color scheme was basically a vanilla white and she had the same tendril- like hair as Juska only instead of white they were still that cream color and the ends were a bronze color. Her eyes were all silver, and she grinned. "Nothing."  
  
"They'd why you come over here if you were plotting nothing?" Avon asked, and sipped some of Valec's drink. He hissed in response and threw something similar to a fry at her.  
  
"Because I wanted to," Violet replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
How could someone actually like this girl? She lacked sense and all of her comments and comebacks were completely stupid and made no sense whatsoever. "Okay then. You can go now. Can't you see Valec is eating?" Brian suggested, actually managing to sound very polite when he said this.  
  
Valec laughed and then dashed back to the counter to order something else.  
  
"Hey, have any of you been beaten up this year?" Violet prodded.  
  
Actually, none of them had but some people wanted to desperately. The reason why they never did probably was because of Gantu and his size and they were too afraid to just about to anything to his friends for fear he'd come after them. And he probably would, actually.  
  
"Why you ask?" Juska questioned her.  
  
"No reason," she answered and walked over.  
  
For a moment her boyfriend just lingered there, and after much time seemed to realize she was gone and followed like an obedient puppy that wanted some attention. Valec soon returned and sat back down. "So I guess they left?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, basically," Brian replied and Avon started back up on the killer rubber ducks with their golf carts. Gantu turned back to look out the window. The family was gone.  
  
-  
  
Out of the five friends, only three people remained, as they had already passed by Valec and Avon's homes. Brian, Juska and Gantu were on the street that had the home Gantu in it. The bigger alien was just silent as his friends were discussing drafting again. Apparently, Juska was planning on signing up for the squadron either during her first or second year of high school.  
  
"GANTU!"  
  
The conversation ended and they looked up to see a huge alien. He was about a big ten feet tall and was standing in front of Gantu's house. "Yeah?" Gantu called, and Brian and Juska were silent.  
  
"Get in here! How many times are you going to forget to call before coming home so late?" His father angrily shouted.  
  
"Sorry, dad. I'll remember next time," he shouted as they began walking again. Under his breath, he said to his friends, "See you tomorrow. I gotta go."  
  
They waved and turned a corner as Gantu's father was already heading inside. And Gantu himself was feeling nervous because of what awaited him inside of his house. Inside, it wasn't like a mansion and it wasn't like the home belonging to a hobo. In fact, it seemed so normal you could suspect something. Trying to think up a good excuse, Gantu turned the corner and suddenly the left side of his face was stinging uncontrollably, and he stumbled, grabbing unto a wall for support.  
  
"When are you going to stop waiting until the last minute to apologize?" Gantu's father growled, rubbing his fist he had hit Gantu so hard.  
  
Venes, who was the father of Gantu picked his son up by the collar and shoved him up against the wall. "Did you apologize when you made everything in my life fall apart?"  
  
Through all the pain, Gantu somehow managed to say something he really shouldn't have. "It isn't that big of a deal. I just forgot to call you, don't make such a scene about it."  
  
Obviously influenced by some mind altering food or something from their planet similar to alcohol, Venes only shoved up him against the wall harder. "SHUT UP! You ruined everything!"  
  
"It's not my fault you just forgot to wear-" Gantu began, before he was finally and viciously punched in the stomach.  
  
Letting him go, Venes let Gantu slide onto the ground in obvious pain. Where he had been hit on the face was already beginning to change into a darker shade of blue and he could nearly see out of his left eye. Since his dad was at full height, Venes was huge and like all of his race was naturally powerful. And all of Venes and his power had been taken out on abused Gantu, who slowly got to his feet as his father walked away. Giving Venes one last glare, Gantu slowly wobbled up the stairs and into his room before falling face-first on the bed.  
  
Just laying there on the bed sprawled, Gantu wanted to turn on some music or something but couldn't, knowing that moving anymore than this would make the already white hot pain turn even worse.  
  
-  
  
TBC  
  
A/N: So, kids? How'd you like it. It's kind of funny in a way how everyone is always looking at Gantu as the bad guy but to me he's the one that should be pitied. ANWAY! Review if you like it, I have a feeling a won't get too many but do me a favor and give me some! I eat reviews and they keep me alive! When I do not receive any, I hunt in the dead of the night and feast upon unsuspecting victims! (translation - Just do it and wait for the next chapter.) 


	2. Chapter Two

2. Fourteen, Part two  
  
It was a weekend, and had been approximately a week and a half since his dad had the urge to just about beat all the life of out Gantu. Since then, Gantu had managed to walk around times when he sensed his dad wasn't feeling too happy. And now he just sat in his room, back on the wall and listening to the radio. It was basically very full of static, since he set it to catch random signals from other planets. Gantu didn't now why, but the sound of static always made him feel better.  
  
And he wasn't feeling too great. He learned that after time, wherever you have been hit it would feel even worse after a while. It was sore even when it wasn't touched. The big alien lazily blinked, staring at the dark gray wall in front of him. When the phone beeped very loudly, he jumped and leapt to his feet. That caused his stomach to hurt a lot, and he practically staggered to the phone and quickly picked it up, pressing the 'talk' button. "Yeah?"  
  
"'Ello."  
  
It was Brian. To tell you the truth, Gantu didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Not even his friend.  
  
"Hi Brian," he answered and rubbed the side of his face to see if it felt any better. It didn't.  
  
"Everyone is going to go to the CD store. Want to come?" He asked, and Gantu could tell he was probably digging through whatever he owned for cash.  
  
"Uh. sure. I guess we're all going to meet at Avon's?" He asked and then sighed. He really didn't want to go anywhere.  
  
"You're a quick one. We always go there," Brian replied with sarcasm. "Well, I gotta go then. See you."  
  
He hung up before Gantu could even answer, and for a moment he just stood there as if slowly processing the situation. Music always seemed to help in someway. It was worth it. Gantu went out of his room and cautiously down the stairs, waiting to hear any movement from his dad. There was nothing.  
  
The alien quietly walked down the remainder of the stairs, and that was hard with his size, and he stood by the door, ready to open it very quickly. "I'm going, I'll be back later," he shouted and then left before his dad could reply.  
  
-  
  
The five entered the CD store. It was a familiar sight. Rows of CDs on racks with the band name written on cards or the section above everything. Their CDs were similar to human CDs, except much more small and thin, very easy to break. Immediately Brian, Valec and Avon dashed to get the last album left of a band called 'The Waste.' Gantu and Juska walked through the aisles, not really looking around. Gantu really didn't know that Juska was staring at him until she finally spoke.  
  
"Just for falling, that bruise has been there for a long time, hasn't it?" She asked, picking up two CDs, using both of her arms on her left side.  
  
"I guess so," Gantu mumbled.  
  
After looking at a cover and placing it in the wrong section, she stopped and turned to face Gantu. She was smiling, but he could tell it was forced and she was trying hard not to look too serious. "You didn't really fall, did you?"  
  
He feigned surprise. "Why do you think that?"  
  
"Because," Juska informed him, "I know that you are always willing to make up the most stupid lies to hide the fact that you weren't exactly all powerful and frightening for once. I mean, you deny it a lot of times or make up the lamest excuses when you loose at something as small as a board game."  
  
"That isn't exactly true," Gantu answered, his faked surprise very convincing, "But then what else would it be?"  
  
"Remember, Violet asked us if we have ever been beaten up? I noticed that this new guy that is just about another foot taller than you arrived about a day before she asked us. And I have to say Violet probably hates you like hell and asked him to kick your ass. What kind of guy would deny a request by the prettiest girl in the school?" Juska and her expression fell to looking very serious.  
  
"I was NOT beat up!" Gantu laughed.  
  
"If you did, just tell us, already! We aren't going to kill him or slit his throat or anything, but as friends, we defend friends. So will you just tell the truth?" She asked.  
  
Now, Gantu felt bad. She was doing 'the face.' It was like sticking her lower lip out and making the biggest eyes you've ever seen, and with her eye color being brown, they already looked big enough. He weakly smiled. "I SWEAR I wasn't. Like I said, I fell over the railing off the porch. You know how big I am compared to it."  
  
Juska wasn't convinced. "Is there something going on at home that we should know about?"  
  
Gantu felt his stomach do a flip. "No."  
  
She sighed. "Alright then."  
  
Juska walked off, knowing that he was completely lying about something, and went off to find the others and pretend like everything was alright. Now guilty he lied to his best friend, he exhaled slowly. Now all of the once heavenly CDs around him seemed like garbage, and he turned, to see some old lady drinking a coke. She had apparently been watching the whole scene like it was a movie.  
  
"You want some popcorn with that?" He growled angrily.  
  
She shrugged. "It's a free planet."  
  
Gantu briskly walked past, ignoring her humorous face and went off to find his friends also, and then pretend just like Juska.  
  
-  
  
It was around midnight, and Gantu laid on his bed, wide awake and stared at the blank ceiling. His radio was on and lying close to his head, lightly playing static. Every now and then faint words could be heard, but it was mostly in another language. Either way, as long as there was static, it was still good enough. Gantu was once again just thinking of possibilities of what do about the militia or battle craft squadron once in high school. He didn't want to join it alone, except he knew that Brian and Valec almost entirely different interests, Valec being a stunt performer and Brian either a Mortician or Coroner. And if Juska joined, they'd probably be on two entirely different squadrons with her being a girl and him a guy.  
  
Running over the choices in his head, which he had been doing a lot lately, Gantu heard heavy and almost angry sounding footsteps coming up the stairs. It was Venes. The fourteen year-old sat up, hoping that the footsteps would go to another part of the house, but instead they still continued to head his way. He pressed himself up against the wall, as if that would help in some pointless way. It had only been a week and a half since the last time Venes had a temper, and Gantu was in no condition mentally or physically for it again.  
  
The door opened quickly, and his dad walked into view, and was just silent, giving Gantu a very stern stare.  
  
Gantu attempted to smile and it turned out look very fake. "Yeah?"  
  
"Did you do your homework already, because I'm not having you stay up to five in the morning finishing it. You kept me awake for hours last time," he growled.  
  
"I didn't have anything. Sorry about that," Gantu apologized, while in reality he could really care less on how much sleep Venes received.  
  
His father made a grunting noise and left. Gantu realized he had been holding his breath ever since he first heard the footsteps and inhaled. Good thing that was over.  
  
Once Gantu thought about it though, not all of his worst injuries had been from his dad. A lot of times they were all his fault. The worst was when he was eleven and about to turn twelve when on a class field trip they went to some meat processing plant or something. It was a complete accident, and he still felt bad about it, but Valec was pretending to be a bull-related animal or something (Hey, this was in fifth grade. Yes, they are going to act like kids) and was going to 'attack' Gantu. Instead, Valec tripped while in the process of running, and instead of Gantu gripping the wall for support during the collision, he accidentally shoved his hand in a meat grinder meant for grinding up huge pieces of whatever you put in there.  
  
It was basically a miracle Gantu managed to pull his arm out before the blades cut his wrist and he would've bled to death on the spot, but his race was, like always, strong and his big bones in his fingers slowed the spinning fan. That had really grossed out the students near him, as some guys and girls began crying and the class nerd threw up. And yes, although he hated to admit it, Gantu was bawling his eyes out. Who wouldn't though? One of the joints in his fingers had been bent backwards and his hand cut up to the bone so much you couldn't tell what was what. He still had scars from that, but his race healed a lot quicker than others.  
  
The phone broke his train of thoughts, and Gantu was about to answer it, but decided not to. He didn't feel like talking. It might be Juska trying to question him further, but he doubted it. His phone didn't have an answering machine, and thank god it wasn't those new models that are just about becoming the COOLEST thing to have, where you could see the person you're talking to on this hand-held phone/video camera.  
  
Anyway, Gantu breathed a sigh of relief when the phone didn't beep for the second time. He switched the static to a radio station and closed his eyes, although not tired.  
  
-  
  
It was near a month ever the events of that day when Juska was first suspicious, and now the MR Junior High was unusually quiet. Finally, the bells rang and a mob burst out of the doors practically screaming and cheering their heads off. Amongst this mob a group of five managed to get out before being trampled to death. Gantu covered his ears, obviously not used to this high-pitched of a noise. Everyone else on the other hand was screaming, too, very happy with the fact that past the summer they were going to finally be in high school. This would mean lockers that finally worked, and they wouldn't be treated like the whole 'if-you'll-be-quiet- I'll-give-you-candy' kiddy idea.  
  
Valec was running in circles around the group, being very hyper and throwing shredded paper in their faces. "Like, OH MY GOD! I am so totally stoked on how school is like, finally, over!"  
  
Brian brushed a piece from his eye. "You make such a wonderful prep, Valec."  
  
"I know!" Valec squealed and for no reason tackled Avon to the ground.  
  
As they wrestled on the ground, Avon was practically bitch-smacking Valec across the face with her tail while she held him in place. Brian was laughing so hard he was rolling on the ground.  
  
Juska smiled brightly. "This is the best day! Because after the break, I'm finally going to be able to join the squadron!"  
  
"So, I guess you're doing it right away?" Gantu asked, a little sad because he didn't know whether he was doing it too, or if she would be all alone.  
  
"Yeah," she answered, and picked up on his sadness. "It depends on whether or not you're doing it. And Avon still doesn't know for sure, but a summer is a long time to wait."  
  
Gantu tried smiling, but it didn't work. School just got out, his dad was probably going to be in a better mood than normal because he didn't need to waste his time beating up Gantu because of grades, and he had a lot of free time. So why didn't he feel happy?  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - TUM TUM TUMMM! I didn't like this chapter because there were no saddening events to write. Time to answer some reviews.  
  
TOONLUVR84 - I know, right? I wish more people would though, so I had something to anticipate.  
  
BLUEFOX GANTU'S LOVER - And I love you, too. What a tender moment. ( Anyway, I'm going to have to remember how you called him Ganny. That was great, man!  
  
PIEWOLVESANDSUCH - First off, I love your username so much. And second, YES. George Bush has a low IQ for a president. Rock on and hard, man. Rock on.  
  
PURPLEJOY6 - I've seen both of those episodes but can hardly remember a thing. But I wish I did. Cheese wiz, you said I'm talented! Oh, my golly gosh self, you're silly! (nerd smile) 


	3. Chapter three

3. Fifteen  
  
Gantu did the normal procedure of waking up, which was falling out of bed and hitting his head on the guitar amp nearby, and he remained in that position for approximately thirty seconds before the guitar itself fell on his head. Then, he would fully awaken. The alien jumped up when the guitar hit him, and then sat there for a while, throwing the covers over his face. Something told him that there was something about today he should be aware of. He knew that it was a Wednesday. And it was a month called 'Carn.' And the day was the eleventh. Oh, no.  
  
Gantu groaned, remembering what that feeling was telling him. Today was his birthday. The day of hell. Gantu didn't want to emerge from his nest of covers, knowing that just about this time of the year always ended up being the worst, because his friends would still be all 'birthday giddy' around him, although they were completely aware of the fact he hated his birthday. After much time, he finally decided to get up, and he glanced at the clock. It was only six thirty.  
  
He sighed. It seemed to late. But still, he bet that Valec, who was always up at the crack of dawn, would call him eventually. When would they understand that this was the worst day known to him?! It was the day he was born, and basically the day when he would be tortured daily for everyday of his life. Gantu pulled down the radio and turned it on light enough so that it wouldn't awaken Venes. It was nothing but talk shows, but he kept it on anyway as he tried to estimate what will happen during the day.  
  
First there was going to be a much louder than normal knock on the door, and then Juska will come running in first without anyone answering the door and then soon the other three would follow. She would jump on his bed until he at least look at her, and then the others will drag him out, and then proceed to pull him around all over town doing a bunch of random things, like annoying the people working at cashiers at multiple stores. Like he said, they were very unaware how unhappy he was about his life. And how could they be so oblivious when he unintentionally acts all depressed around them. He tried to be all happy like them, but it was harder than it looks when most of your life you've been so serious because of your mother leaving you, your father blaming that on you a beating all life out of you on a weekly basis during the school years. He'd be better off dead than to continue going through with this.  
  
Gantu paused, and thought that over: He'd be better off dead than to continue going through with this. The alien seemed to consider something but caught himself. Suicide just wasn't the way out of everything. After all, there had to be some person out there that would rather see him alive than in a casket or as a bunch of ashes. To try to get out of the mood, he found a good station and tried listening, but he couldn't stop thinking about dying. It was better than nothing. There was practically a voice inside his head, convincing him suicide was the way. He listened to it, the radio distant. 'Admit it, you thought about killing yourself tons of times. One time you even wrote "the note" before being a good little boy and tearing it up. You hate this world. No, don't be a pansy by running away. After all, suicide is the biggest way to insult someone. It's the biggest way to insult your father. Venes deserves it, and so do you.'  
  
He shook that annoying little voice out of his head. Speaking of Venes, where was he? Gantu flipped the radio off and got to his feet, going out into the hall. It was darker than he thought in the hallway, and he noticed that the door to Venes and his room was wide open. He was nowhere in sight. That wasn't normal. But then again, Gantu realized that this happened during every time of this forsaken day. On Gantu's birthday, his dad always 'mysteriously disappeared' to arrive late at night, drunk out of his mind. There, he would proceed to beat up Gantu.  
  
Gantu didn't care, either. He liked it when his dad was gone for so long. Gantu walked down the stairs, probably to attempt to enjoy what was left of the time before and watch TV or something. He walked into the living room. Suddenly, the TV didn't look so great, just sitting there in the dark. Instead, Gantu wandered around the house and entered the kitchen. Not hungry, he was very bored so just decided to go through all the cabinets and try to discover something to prove his dad might be on drugs. With no luck, Gantu was on his final drawer and opened it. No curious looking powders or plants were inside, but a bunch of stuff needed for cooking.  
  
He pulled out a knife. Gantu loved this one, but didn't know why. Instead of being big, the knife was small and the point barely curved. Who knew what it was for. He seemed suddenly aware of a small sting on his palm and he looked to see that he had accidentally cut himself while rummaging through. A very small drop of blood came from it, and then the thing he wanted last came to his mind. That stupid voice was back. 'Now's your chance. Before your friends come and torture you throughout the day, and before your dad comes. There's no one to stop you. Do it! Please?'  
  
Gantu ran his finger over the blade lightly. The voice continued, 'It won't hurt. It'll feel good, just like that time in fifth grade during the field trip. Admit it, you liked that feeling. Hurry before someone comes. It's your only chance, and since it's your birthday it's like the present you've always wanted.'  
  
Gantu seemed to realize that made sense. It was the perfect present to himself. Finally, everything could end, and this might be the only chance, before his friends come knocking. He stopped running his finger on the point but held it by the handle. He slightly smiled. He wasn't so afraid now like that time in sixth grade when he thought there was nothing to live for. And he should have done it then, before two years later he would turn out to be like this!  
  
There was a long silence. He suddenly became aware that there was blood on the knife, and he dropped it in surprise. The pain on his wrists finally seemed to come, and Gantu immediately bit down on his lips. His famous snaggle-fang cut into his upper lip, and that trickle of blood seemed like a raindrop compared to what was gushing from both his wrists. He regained posture somehow, and just watched the blood almost in amazement. It didn't hurt, actually. It just felt like water was dripping off of him. And then he was aware that his legs were beginning to give away. Gantu didn't try to stop himself from falling in his own pool of blood, which was rapidly growing. Lying there, his small smile faded very quickly.  
  
There was a bang on the door, and then he heard it open. Gantu closed his eyes, as if not wanting to see who would walk in. He recognized the bouncy footsteps, and finally heard a voice say, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! What're you doing on the - OH, GOD!"  
  
Gantu reopened his eyes that were slowly clouding over. "Go away."  
  
"GANTU!" Juska screamed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? BRIAN! CALL AN AMBULANCE!"  
  
The gothic, cat-like alien seemed very calm until he walked inside and got a glimpse of what she was being so hysterical about. He leaped out, obviously off to find the phone. Juska could hear the questioning voices of Valec and Avon before they were silenced and pushed out of the house. Gantu found that reassuring, knowing that he wasn't like a freak show for multiple people to watch in amusement. He merely watched and Juska started walking forward, her dragon-looking feet walking through his own blood while saying something. Everything faded to black.  
  
-  
  
"He didn't loose enough blood for it to be fatal, but it will be hard finding donated blood from his race to give to him."  
  
"How did this happen?"  
  
"Suicide attempt, we think. We'll have to wait for him to wake up before we can definitely figure that out."  
  
"Did you already order the blood?"  
  
"It will be here in one hour. It's a good thing we had some, you know how hard to find his race is."  
  
"Right. It's sad what the youth is resorting to."  
  
"I know, right? Do you want anything from the vending machine? I'm getting something."  
  
"Sure. I don't care what."  
  
Gantu could hear voices, but could see nothing but black. After much time, he seemed to finally realize that this was because his eyes were closed. An attempt to open them only gave him about a five second view of a room. Where was he? When he had opened them, there were dark shades of gray all around him. Slowly going over the events of what he could last remember, he finally determined he was in a hospital. It means he didn't die.  
  
Gantu was glad but also sad knowing this. He knew he should be happy, and finally realized he was. Suicide was the most idiotic thing he had ever done. And then he fell asleep again when the voices started talking again. Thank the heavens it wasn't the one persuading him to kill himself.  
  
-  
  
"Are you feeling alright, son?"  
  
Gantu was barely awake when he heard that. Why was his dad asking him that? He opened his eyes, and it wasn't Venes looking at him, but a doctor. He wore those mint-colored hospital surgical outfits and was a race Gantu never say. The doctor was solid white, and had all black eyes. He looked like a weasel.  
  
"Yeah," Gantu mumbled. His throat hurt for some reason and his voice was very raspy.  
  
"That's good. Your blood supply is back to normal. What's your name?" The doctor questioned him.  
  
Gantu looked at the doctor. He was holding a clipboard that had just about all information about him. Gantu knew the doctor very well knew his name, but told him anyway in his painful and raspy voice.  
  
"Gantu? And how old are you?"  
  
Now Gantu was getting tired of this and growled. "Look at the paper. It's not very hard."  
  
The doctor at first seemed surprise, and smiled for some reason and left. Now Gantu looked at his surroundings. The hospital rooms weren't the clean, all white and perfect rooms you see on TV. Instead, they were pretty dark, and there weren't a bunch of doctors babying him like you see on TV, also. They instead left him, and Gantu was glad that they did. He never liked doctors, or any kind.  
  
He looked at his wrists for the first time since arriving at the hospital, and they were covered by white bandages that seemed bigger than necessary. Where he had cut himself dully throbbed. He could tell they were still, and lightly bleeding. A few moments later another person entered the room. This was a woman, and she was of the same race as Violet. Her skin was a darker shade of vanilla though. Gantu just eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"Hello, Gantu." She pulled up a chair from one side of the room. "Are you feeling better?"  
  
She seemed nice. Gantu nodded.  
  
She smiled in response. "My name is Dr. Wagner. I'm a psychotherapist. Do you know why I'm here?"  
  
Gantu sighed. Yes, he knew what she was here for. "To tell me that suicide isn't healthy."  
  
She laughed, and he didn't see what was so funny. Dr. Wagner went on, "Of course it isn't healthy. It kills you. Now, I'm to believe you live with your father?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied.  
  
"We haven't been able to locate him yet, but we're on it. You're ready for visitors, and there have been four teenagers wanted to see you ever since you arrived here, a week ago," she informed him.  
  
"A week?" Gantu questioned. "But I've only been awake three times since I came here."  
  
"That's what you get for suicide," she answered in a much more serious tone. "Now, before I leave, I have to ask you some questions. As you were here, the doctors also discovered many bruises and injuries on your torso and back, and along with what was a once broken rib that seemed to heal on its own and several other bruised ribs. Can I ask you questions about that?"  
  
"Yeah," he nervously answered.  
  
Gantu ended up lying at every question. If his abuse was discovered, he'd be taken away from where he once lived and his friends. Dr. Wagner left, and he laid in bed for a long time before once again falling asleep.  
  
TBC  
  
I actually didn't like this chapter too much, because there wasn't enough conversation in the first two pages. DAMMIT! Oh, yes. I must say like every good author would that suicide is bad. Yes. 


	4. Chapter four

4. Fifteen, part two  
  
"It looks like you'll be out of here within the next two days, Gantu," A doctor informed him as he was trying to show Gantu how to change bandages correctly.  
  
Gantu didn't reply, only very mad on how his attempt to change the bandages looked like a mess and it made the very noticeable and slightly bleeding cuts hurt more. Another thing that got him mad was that his friends couldn't visit him, and his dad had. A doctor was in the room, unplugging a heart monitor next to him because it was of no use, so his dad obviously wasn't going to do anything. Anyway, Gantu didn't think his dad would to begin with. All he got was a lecture on what he did. No 'thank goodness you're okay' or anything like that.  
  
After much time, Gantu finally managed to bandage them successfully, and leaned back, staring at the same gray ceiling that he had been staring at for the past week and two days. At least he was getting out.  
  
-  
  
The dark red craft turned a corner, and this caused Gantu to remember to put on the seat belt. Venes was silent and somehow managed to let Gantu put a CD in when he had found the case laying in the back seat. The music softly played, because Gantu learned the hard way that playing it loud caused Venes to have a serious headache. There was a long silence, when Venes said, "When I was in the hospital, your friends were in the lobby."  
  
"Really?" Gantu looked up.  
  
"Your friend Juska told me that she had something for you. I guess she knew you were going to be alright, but she couldn't visit because only family can visit you," he said, and, eyes still on the road, started to find something near the feet of his seat. He finally pulled out a stack of papers with something on the front, and he handed it to Gantu.  
  
Before bothering to read the note on top of everything, Gantu slid his eyes to Venes, though with his pupil-less eyes you couldn't tell. "Did you read it?"  
  
"Why would I?" Venes growled. "I don't care what goes on between you and her."  
  
Gantu shrugged and began reading it. He could tell that she had written it in the lobby because of the cheap looking pencil lead, and how it looked like it had been scribbled on. He slowly read it, as if not to miss anything.  
  
"Before I start, I'm just going to say that this isn't a note lecturing you on how what you did was wrong, even though I entirely agree on that. I signed up for the squadron in advance. Instead of going to normal high school, I'll be going to squadron battle craft academy. Flying starts once your seventeen. Anyway, I heard that suicide does a lot to people, and I seriously don't mean to make your mad here, but I didn't know if you did that because we (as in Brian, Avon, Valec and I) didn't really give you much attention, but I am so sorry if that is it and I don't want you thinking that, because we've been best friends ever since third grade and I love you like a brother. Because if you didn't like me, I decided that I should give you a form to fill out for the squadron or militia if you still wanted to. It was the last one, and therefore the last opening. A lot of people went this year. I guess it's because they don't want their son or daughter to be drafted. Anyway, I didn't know whether you still wanted to be in it or not, but I grabbed it anyway. I don't know where you'll be when you're reading this or when, I guess it depends on when Venes sees you, but my god you better get better or I will seriously find you and tear your dead corpse to pieces.  
  
- Juska - -"  
  
Gantu blinked. She signed up for the squadron in advance? He looked at the forms. It had to have a parents signature if younger than seventeen in millions of places. Gantu looked at Venes, who was concentrating on the road. Deciding not to bring up the subject at the time, he looked through the papers. Half of it was for the militia and the other the squadron. Gantu already knew that he wanted to be a part of the squadron, but didn't exactly know whether or not he wanted to. Juska was in it now, there was someone to go with, and she needed someone to know.  
  
He set down the papers and looked out the windows and leaned his head against it. The horns on the sides of his head flattened against it. A craft nearby with a bunch of people his age in the pilots seat and clearly underage drove by, blaring music. The pilot gave him an odd look, and one acidic glare sent them speeding away.  
  
-  
  
"GANTU!"  
  
Avon went flying across the yard and leapt up, her legs and tail wrapping him up in a hug and she was hanging on his torso and dangling there. Brian and Valec didn't seem to notice him until she screamed his name. Even though Avon didn't push him down, Gantu was near falling and trying to balance but her tail was wagging like a propeller and not helping at all. After much time he already fell, but Brian and Valec helped both of them to their feet.  
  
The two guys had looks on their faces like they were expecting for him to say, 'I don't need you guys anymore,' but Avon was just crazy. They stood in front of Gantu's home, where Venes just simply walked past and inside. After much time of just talking and tem demanding an explanation (Gantu said no more than he couldn't explain) Gantu finally looked around and noticed something was missing.  
  
"Where's Juska?" He asked, looking around as if expecting she would spring out from hiding.  
  
"She said she was going to go and see if she was accepted into the academy. It's been about a week since she last turned it in. On your birthday, to be exact," Valec quickly informed him.  
  
"Oh. I'm going to go and see her, then," Gantu answered. He knew where to go. Every time he passed the building a bunch of questions about the future would spring into mind.  
  
-  
  
Juska was inside, leaning against the wall and bored as ever, waiting for the guy inside to tell her whether or not she was accepted. Just about everything had been looked at about her. Her grades, courses and everything in school. The guy working returned and gave her another one of those looks whenever his one eye laid on her. He had three tentacle-like legs and an annoying antennae sticking out of his head. First, she was a girl. And second, she could be considered a punk or gothic girl.  
  
Gantu walked in and spotted her before she did see him. The guy working there said something really quick and she answered with a simple 'yeah' and turned. She almost walked right into Gantu. She was ready to apologize, not looking where she was going and then saw Gantu. She smiled crookedly. "Are you mad?"  
  
"No," he answered. "Why would I?"  
  
"I don't know. You never tell anyone anything so I didn't have that much of an idea," she answered. "Did you decide whether you're going to be in the squadron or not? I made it."  
  
He pulled out the forms from his pocket. "Yeah."  
  
Juska shoved him towards the counter and so he could turn them in, her eyes lingering on the bandages around his wrists. After a few minutes of that one-eyed guy questioning him, they turned and left.  
  
-  
  
Within two weeks, you guessed it. Rumors of Gantu's suicide spread, somehow. It lead from slitting the wrists to slitting his throat. He was in his room, just wanting to be alone. Even though they were just trying to be nice, his friends spent a little too much time with him. He sat on his large bed trying to find something to do by going through magazines and taking those quizzes. So far, he was determined a loner for the 'what group do you fit in' quiz. He wasn't having too much fun, when his eyes saw something from the corner of his eye. That lady from the hospital, Dr. Wagner was coming. He exhaled. He forgot. His first scheduled appointment was today.  
  
Gantu got up and walked downstairs, and opened the door before she even knocked. Her arm was in the air and her hand in a fist as if ready to, though. She smiled. "I guess you've been waiting?"  
  
"Yeah," he murmured and turned to face the stairs. "I have to go with the doctor!"  
  
The reply from Venes was a simple 'fine' and they left. The car-ride to the office wasn't exactly fun. First, she tried the radio and listening to what he liked. For a forty year-old, it appeared as though she thought she was sixteen again and kicking. Gantu came up with some sorry excuse not to listen to that, and the rest of the ride was silent. Upon arriving there, they went in the building and up an elevator.  
  
It just occurred to Gantu that he was very tall compared to her. She reached about his shoulders. He didn't know why, but that made him not want to go through with this even more. They finally entered her office. It was clean. TOO clean and very suspicious.  
  
"Go ahead and sit down," Dr. Wagner suggested, and he answered by noisily flopping down in that classic couch you always see the patient lying in on TV and whatnot.  
  
"Have you been doing okay since you got back?" She asked, and pulled a notepad out from seemingly nowhere.  
  
Gantu suddenly didn't want to sit on the couch anymore for some reason and went into a sitting position instead of being sprawled across it. "Yeah, I guess," he answered.  
  
She wrote something, and Gantu wanted to break the mechanical pencil she was using because the lead squeaked. She didn't seem to care at all, though it was driving him crazy.  
  
"Let's get started," she said and flipped unto a new page on her notepad.  
  
'No,' Gantu thought, not enjoying this too much.  
  
"Anything you want to talk about?" she asked.  
  
Silence. "Uh, not really," Gantu replied.  
  
Since his eyes had no pupils, she probably didn't notice he was staring at that aggravating pencil, eye twitching every time it squeaked much louder than necessary.  
  
"Alright. Then I'll ask you some questions, just so I could know you better," Dr. Wagner stated. "What's your favorite color?"  
  
"Black," he quickly replied.  
  
She didn't seem too surprised. "Alright then. What is your best talent?"  
  
"I don't have any," he once again answered, not wanting to tell her every bit of information about himself.  
  
"Everyone has one. Just think for a minute," she said.  
  
Gantu really didn't want to be doing this all day. Might as well go along with it. "I have a good memory," he answered.  
  
At the time, having a good memory was pretty great. But later, it wouldn't be when he'd be forced to remember events that would haunt him forever. Gantu twitched when the pencil squeaked.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - WHAT A BORING CHAPTER! I can't wait until the next one, because that is when action starts happening! Boo-yah! Review answering time -  
  
BlueFox Gantu's Lover - I read your story, and it was great. I recommend it to EVERYONE! BWAH! Anyway, my best wishes on you successfully capturing Gantu and making him become your boyfriend or whatever your fantasies are. (  
  
PurpleJoy6 - Your story wasn't bad, it was good and I loved it like a sandwich and 625. . . without eating it. Out of your favorite experiments, mine is Felix and Spooky. Bonnie is cool, too, she has an accent. I'm Jealous.  
  
TurtleGirl - I know he said that, but friends make a better plot, does it not? I rhymed! And Gantu does need a big, fat and juicy hug, except if he hugged back it would probably break a spine. Or two. Strong Gantu. . . 


	5. Chapter five

5. Fifteen, part three  
  
'You're down.'  
  
"I AM NOT!" Gantu protested at the flight simulator computer that was saying an enemy finally shot him down.  
  
He would have proceeded to beat the computer that was telling him messages like to please open canopy and exit, but it opened by itself. Someone from the outside had. It was an alien that looked pretty amazed at how frustrated Gantu was.  
  
"Are you okay over there?" He asked.  
  
Gantu weakly grinned. "Yeah."  
  
Gantu stepped out of the simulator and out unto the room where there were seats filled with people ready to try their first battle craft simulator. He was at "Battle Craft Squadron Academy,' or for short 'BCSA.' It was almost like a floating school out in space. It even had one or two crafts on it, but at the time they were just learning how to fly the things and discover what was on the inside. Sitting in one of the seats was the only girl in the room, Juska. She was asleep, and snoring. A lot of the guys around her stared, before Gantu roughly awaken her.  
  
"What?" she groaned.  
  
"I'm down," Gantu mumbled.  
  
Though at the time he didn't seem too happy, on the inside Gantu felt like he was in complete paradise. Mostly because his father wasn't here, and he didn't have to go to your everyday school although half of the classes were on what you would learn there. There was one problem, and it was the worst part. His only friend was Juska here that he knew forever, and missed them, unlike Venes. Except here, he had a few friends and Juska had her own, too. No one ever questioned him about anything going on at home, either.  
  
"So? You're not the first," she answered slowly and was about to fall asleep, but he shook her again.  
  
"You're next! Pay attention!" Gantu was just about uncontrollably shaking her again. A lot of people stared.  
  
She was about to hit him or something, when someone called Gantu. He looked over to see the person in charge of the simulation center at the time and bounded over to see his results. Just about everyone at BCSA couldn't wait to get out and actually get in the craft. The first time Gantu saw one up close, he was instantly in love. There were three types of the craft, but multiple kinds for each type. The first one was the primary combat craft. It looked similar to an Earth fighter plane (to be exact, a SU-30, for those who know their planes) with much more curves and they were larger so a wider range of races could pilot them. The primary crafts also had a much more small wingspan, and the tips curved backwards. The colors usually depended on what academy you went to, and BCSA was dark gray and yellow.  
  
A second type was a stealth. They were the most valuable, and were almost a V-shape. They curved backwards also, and gave it a more C-looking appearance from above. They were very sleek, smooth and only half the size of primary crafts, because of their very small wingspan. Another feather was the nose wasn't sharp, but more curved. Lastly, there were the crafts meant for back-up. They were almost like primary crafts with one exception. They carried much more weaponry and were larger, and slower.  
  
Now, receiving his results, Gantu was trying to look at the paper the lieutenant was looking at. The lieutenant was a big, brown guy with six arms, three on each side and looked very intimidating with the BCSA uniform on.  
  
"You're score was above average," the lieutenant read, "And along with flight. Your average kill was two to every minute."  
  
"Is that good?" Gantu questioned.  
  
"Good?" The alien asked, seeming surprised. "This is considered exceptional flight! Most pilots have an average kill of two to every five minutes. And you lasted much longer, also."  
  
Gantu looked over to Juska with a look on his face like 'beat-that' and she stuck her tongue out at him in response. He was beginning to leave when the brown alien coughed.  
  
"Oh. Thank you, SIR," He said, never used to referring to people as sir or ma'am.  
  
Already, in that little of time, the alien that had went inside the similar opened the canopy and came out, looking very sad. Juska stood up and walked towards it.  
  
"Wish me luck," she said to Gantu.  
  
He shook his head, and in response she tripped him. The result was Gantu landing flat on his face and just about everyone laughed. But that didn't matter. Being stupid was fun!  
  
-  
  
After being in the BCSA for nearly a year, it was nearing Gantu's birthday again. In only one week he would have to go through the traditional torture of Juska and her wraith. And both of them were just about every Sergeant and Captain's favorites. They were the best flyers in the Academy for their year, and had the abilities of a third year pilot. And the war wasn't getting any better. Instead, it had heated up. More and more battles were taking place, both in the militia and squadron, in space.  
  
Gantu was lying in his dormitory, trying to decide on a CD to listen to. His roommate was reading a magazine and looking very happy. Probably porn. Gantu finally decided from the selection and was putting it in the player when the door opened without a knock. Standing in the doorway was Juska and a captain he had never seen before. His roommate immediately shoved the magazine elsewhere. Yeah. Definitely porn.  
  
"Gantu? Come here. We have a situation," the captain roughly said.  
  
"Okay. I mean, yes sir," he got up and walked out.  
  
Once there, the three started walking down the aisles. The captain was explaining what it was they needed to do for both of them as they walked.  
  
"You probably heard the small groups of enemy stealth crafts that have been going near us for just about a year, correct?" The captain asked.  
  
They both nodded, and he continued, "The number of times they have been drawing near has increased. Usually we send out only four or five of our own to go and scare them. We don't want to engage for no necessary reason. Every time, it works. But now, with three pilots out and under health not suitable for flight, we don't have a number of pilots to go out there."  
  
Gantu and Juska exchanged looks. The captain still went on, "You've both been in practice in the actual crafts and scored the best, and sometimes beating the fourth year pilots. We want both of you to go out and there and make our numbers appear larger. It should scare them off. We don't want to take chances with only two crafts out there. They might engage us."  
  
"So," Juska said, "You basically want us to fly with the others and help scare them off?"  
  
"Yes," the Captain responded. "We've picked up the group on radar, and we need to take off immediately and before they draw to close."  
  
Once again, Gantu and Juska looked at each other.  
  
"Go to your crafts and prepare for take-off," The Captain said.  
  
With no 'yes, sir' or anything, Gantu and Juska were already racing down the hall and to the docking area, where the crafts waited.  
  
-  
  
Gantu was in the cockpit of the primary craft, and all of the suit he had to wear was heavy. It was important though. Something about being in space and having pressure in the cockpit could make your lungs just explode. This outfit somehow helped. Gantu was nervous, but bored also. He wanted to leave, but everyone else was taking forever and all the time they needed.  
  
"Juska?" He asked into the radio.  
  
"What?" She responded, her voice very crackly over the radio.  
  
"Will you hurry up?!" He growled.  
  
"Good gosh, don't get so emotional!" She answered.  
  
Gantu was silent. Finally all maintenance people cleared from the small room where the crafts were. The huge, mechanical door slowly opened. Everything would have been sucked out if they weren't strapped down. First, someone he didn't know slowly rolled out and into the darkness of space. The engines emitted a pink-orange trail, and soon everyone was going out. Gantu was the last, right behind someone he didn't know. Gantu moved the joystick further, and the craft zoomed forward much faster than he had expected. Gantu didn't realize he was really nervous until now, and looked around at the other crafts. By the way they were flying, they all looked calm compared to him. The four crafts soon joined in formation.  
  
-  
  
"I have a visual on six back-up crafts," a voice crackled.  
  
Gantu didn't seem to notice anything weird, but slowly processed it. Why would they use back-ups when there were no other crafts in the area? Anyway, they pressed on forward. Gantu could soon see the light outline of the enemy. Their crafts seemed huge to his primary and were painted a metallic white and had dark ride stripes on each wingtip. They were also flying in formation.  
  
"Are you two new guys there?" The same voice asked.  
  
"Yeah," both he and Juska responded at the same time.  
  
"Just keep going forward. They'll turn," The voice said.  
  
Gantu didn't know why, but somehow knew whoever was talking was near his right. Gantu looked at the craft, and for a moment spaced out, getting mesmerized by the trail of orange-pink it left when it flew. Then, Gantu looked forward once there was a loud rumble. It was the sound of the back- up crafts. Their engines were huge, and they changed direction.  
  
"What did I tell you?" The voice asked to Gantu and Juska. "They always turn and-"  
  
Suddenly, Gantu's craft was just about flipped over when there was a huge force to his right. After spending some time, getting in position he heard the second voice over the radio shouting, "He's been hit!"  
  
Gantu looked over at who was once on his right. It was now more than discarded metal from the impact of the cannons coming from those back-up crafts. Seeing that just about but Gantu into panic mode. "Juska?"  
  
"What?" She hurriedly asked, also sounding very desperate.  
  
"Are you okay?" Gantu asked.  
  
"Yeah, I only took a little bit of shrapnel. The worst was it chipping the paint," she answered.  
  
Gantu was too afraid to go and fight six back-ups. They were basically designed to make powder of what was left of battles. And anyway, they were twice their amount of numbers now. Gantu looked over and saw only one primary craft fighting. Bright green lasers were flying in every direction, and he saw one of the crafts hit right in the nose and explode simultaneously. Finally, Gantu groaned and pulled into the fight.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - Good. I liked that part. Major setting change, huh? I thought that was kind of the worst part in the story, how it went from on a planet out into a GIANT spaceship academy and a dogfight with jets. Meep! 


	6. Chapter six

6. Fifteen, part four  
  
The back-up crafts were just about the scariest thing that Gantu had ever laid eyes on. But still, here he was, engaging the five of them. Already, one had been hit and destroyed. Gantu looked around him, trying to find the other crafts. They were there. Gantu seemed only a little relaxed, and then turned forward again to see a back-up coming right towards him, plasma cannons beginning to lower from the front of the craft. Not really thinking, Gantu quickly pulled back the trigger on the joystick. A single shot hit the curved wing of the back-up. The cannon withdrew, and the five of them made a wide turn and starting heading back from where they came.  
  
"Nice one!" Juska said over the radio.  
  
Gantu didn't respond. He was practically traumatized.  
  
-  
  
They landed back at the academy. A lot of personnel were waiting, wanting to see what had happened during the engagement and see what was the status on the crafts. Once there, Juska walked over to Gantu. "You alright?"  
  
"Yeah," he murmured in response.  
  
Then someone walked over. It was the captain that had sent them to the crafts in the first place. He didn't look sorry at all.  
  
"How many did we loose? One? Did any of you fire and hit?" He questioned.  
  
"Gantu and the other guy did. I was trying to get one off of my tail," Juska said, giving Gantu a shove.  
  
The Captain ignored her. He briskly walked away, leaving the two alone. Gantu was looking at the floor in front of him, trying run things over. Once he thought about, it wasn't scary at all. It got his Adrenaline running. After much time of silence, Juska finally nudged him.  
  
"You okay over there?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah," he answered and walked away.  
  
Behind him, Juska exhaled and turned to look at some maintenance guy checking her craft. She could see where the laser really had chipped some of the gray paint off of the right wing. The guy winked at her, and she growled in response.  
  
-  
  
Gantu was yet again in his dormitory, listening to music. It was just about the only thing that there was to do other than drills, simulators, classes and exercises. His roommate was gone, probably doing more studying for once. Gantu basically knew everything. It was so easy. Over the sound of the rock playing, Gantu could hear someone knocking on the door. Before he even turned down the music, someone opened the door.  
  
"Hey," Juska said, peeking in. "Are you going to be doing this for the rest of the three years?"  
  
Gantu mumbled something that couldn't be heard. Juska slowly stepped in and crouched down on the floor. Using all four arms, she tried to lift him up but only succeeded in moving him up a few inches. After that, she stood up and began jumping up and down on his back. Every time she landed, he made a grunting noise, obviously not liking the feeling.  
  
"Gantu!" She whined, and hopped back down so her face was level to his. "Let's do something! Want to go and distract people studying? You know I ALWAYS do the dares you tell me to, no matter how stupid they are!"  
  
He didn't reply but moved a little so he could look at her with one eye. It looked like he didn't want to by the look in them.  
  
She weakly smiled. "I'll go up to someone and. . . bite their shoulder!"  
  
This trick didn't work. Usually, he'd burst out laughing because of an 'incident' that happened from that dare awhile ago. It didn't need explaining. This time, he only buried his face back into the covers and answered in a muffled voice, "I don't feel like it."  
  
"Gantu?" She poked the horns on the side of his head. "Gantu!"  
  
Poke. Poke. Poke.  
  
"What is it?" He annoyingly growled, and sat up.  
  
She smiled. "Is that a yes?"  
  
"No!" He growled in response. "You are so frustrating today!"  
  
Gantu practically dived back down unto the bed. For a moment, Juska just looked at him with her eyebrows raised, and then slowly began to look very unhappy. "I'm frustrating?"  
  
Muffled, he responded. "Must I spell it out for you? You never know when to quit."  
  
Juska hopped on the bed again, and tried to pull him back up. This time, she threw him backwards so he was lying on his back. Gantu was a bit surprised, not knowing she was that strong. Four arms probably did help. She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You say I'm frustrating? What about you? You've been so annoying for the longest time! Sure, that incident out in the primary's might have been shaky, but it's two weeks! I've been trying to be nice to you so you could just do something other than sit here and listen to music. And this song is trash anyway!"  
  
He didn't expect that comment. "At least I didn't get all emotional on you. I was trying to be nice by not telling you to just get lost."  
  
"YOU were being nice? Gantu! Think a moment," Juska snapped, "Since I've known you, I was always the friend. I helped you out. When I thought something was wrong, I tried to make it better. I was nice, I just wanted to be a good friend and try to tell you everything and do anything for you that will make you happy. But you never were."  
  
Gantu's eyes turned a lighter shade. They always did that when he got angry.  
  
"Oh, so now I'm not a good friend?" He questioned.  
  
"No, you aren't," she responded, "I try to be so nice to you. But you never seem to care what I and the others think. We're just items to you. The reason why you still hang around is so you can catch some sympathy. We try to make you laugh or happy, but instead you try to pull off looking depressed."  
  
Gantu was now at the point of breaking something. He opened his mouth to say something, and then there was a creaking noise. His roommate stepped in, and looked around dumbly. He slowly inched back outside. "I'll be going now."  
  
"No," Juska spat, "I was just leaving."  
  
As she walked by the roommate, she gave Gantu one last glare and slammed the door, nearly slamming it on the tail of Gantu's roommate. There was a long silence, and finally Gantu growled and grabbed the CD player, throwing it onto the wall. There was a huge bang and crackle as the metal was forced apart and scattered devices rolled across the floor.  
  
-  
  
Weeks later, it was happening again. All three of the pilots that went out to 'scare' the back-ups off were now recognized. Gantu, Juska and the other guy had been the first in the academy to actually engage for that year. It almost never happened. It was good but bad. The good thing was the Gantu and the others would probably receive their license to fly crafts early. The bad thing, or at least to Gantu, was that Juska had to spend more time with him.  
  
Ever since that one night in his room, there was this really long silence between them every time they had to be next to each other like in classes or something. That third guy, his name was Fenris, was constantly trying to strike up a conversation. Fenris was in his third year. He was near as tall as Gantu, was dark blue and looked like a dog or something on hind legs with a lion tail. And they were all waiting to go into the simulator. Juska and Gantu had to sit next to each other because all other seats were taken.  
  
"So," Fenris coughed, "How are you two crazy kids getting along?"  
  
"Okay," Gantu quickly stated.  
  
Juska just mumbled something in response, and there was a longer silence. The canopy to the simulator opened and Gantu and Juska both stood up at the same time. Juska managed to get there first, and as the canopy was closing, gave Gantu an expectant glare, like he was going to go into a rage. When it had fully clothed Fenris raised an eyebrow at Gantu.  
  
"When we were flying, you acted like you cared about what happened to her, and she did the same with you," he said, "So what's with the sudden change in atmosphere?"  
  
"Do you think I would be a good friend?" Gantu asked.  
  
Fenris shrugged. "It's only been four weeks. How should I know?"  
  
"Well," Gantu continued, "She said I just stay around her so I could get some sympathy and I don't care anything about what she thinks."  
  
Fenris thought for a moment before answering, "Maybe you should listen to her. She's right."  
  
"Say that again?" Gantu asked, not sure if he heard correctly.  
  
"You try to act so much depressed. I can tell by the look you have," Fenris said.  
  
Gantu didn't reply. He didn't want to say it out loud, but was thinking 'yeah, you might be a little depressed when you were abused and can never do anything right for someone.' A few minutes later, Juska emerged from the simulator. As she got the results, and Gantu was readying himself for the simulator, he heard over the sound of the canopy closing 'you hold the highest score for you three' and was suddenly determined to get a better score.  
  
The lights inside of the cockpit turned on, and the screen or 'windshield' lit up. It was a computer generated, and was instead of in space but on a planet. It was a desert or canyon, and Gantu liked it better than being in space. Out of the corner of his eye, Gantu could see a computer generated craft coming his way and immediately turned and shot it right out of the sky angrily.  
  
-  
  
More crafts were coming from the enemy. By now, Gantu, Juska and Fenris were favorites of the captains. Yet again, they set out. Gantu wasn't worried at all, and neither was anyone else. The normal procedure of leaving the Academy took place, and the three flew in formation towards the oncoming crafts. Gantu and Juska purposely got on either side of Fenris so they'd be father away from each other.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N – Well, zat was zat. I have bad news. I can't watch Lilo and Stitch enough to know what happens in episodes because of Soccer starting. Practice is looong... but fun! So, I won't be updating as much as you can see. Review!!! 


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